Duque moments before boarding his flight to South Korea, on Sunday, August 22. Presidency of Colombia
70 years ago, nearly 5,000 Colombian soldiers traveled more than 15,000 kilometers between the ports of Buenaventura and Pusan to fight in the Korean War, the first major armed confrontation of the Cold War. Those almost forgotten fighters sealed the special relationship between Colombia and South Korea, which still appreciates that contribution. With that background very present, President Iván Duque has decided to go to Asia this week on his first long-term state visit since the pandemic broke out to endorse the strategic partnership with Seoul, where he will meet with President Moon Jae-in, and to open a new stage that places the emphasis on the manufacture of vaccines and the economic reactivation of the South American country.
These solid diplomatic ties are supported, among others, by a Free Trade Agreement, so that the president travels accompanied by six ministers - the heads of the Health, Trade, Environment, Mines, Agriculture and Culture portfolios - who represent a a third of his Cabinet, and a dozen businessmen that include sectors such as coffee and flowers, which lead exports.
The three-day agenda that starts this Tuesday also includes meetings with the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoom, executives of cutting-edge hospitals and presidents of companies in the 10th world economy such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG.
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"The main objective is the health issue, we want Korea to be a cooperator, and the second is the economic reactivation", at a time when years are coming when it will be necessary to mobilize resources between Asia and Latin America, points out the Colombian ambassador in Seoul, Juan Carlos Caiza, who anticipates the signing of a dozen agreements. "We continue to be allies around conflict issues [Defense], but now we become partners around innovation, inclusive, sustainable and digital," he says in dialogue with this newspaper about a relationship that includes chapters on entrepreneurship, trade, agricultural issues , environmental and creative industries. A striking example from culture is the film
Bogotá
by Song Joong-ki. Filming - with renowned actors from both countries - began in January of last year in Colombia. Although the pandemic led to its suspension, the team resumed filming last June in South Korea, where the film will conclude in the coming months.
The relationship with South Korea is perhaps the most dynamic, broad and historically established that Colombia has in Asia. The trip celebrates two anniversaries. There is a very intense bond derived from the Colombian participation in the Korean War, which remains in the memory of South Koreans and weighs heavily on the importance that Seoul gives to the Andean country, the only one in Latin America that heeded the Organization's call. of the United Nations to support them after the invasion of North Korea in 1950. So present, that every July 20, the day that Colombia's independence is commemorated, countless letters from school children still arrive at the embassy in Seoul giving thanks for the participation of the so-called Colombia Battalion, recalls Caiza. When the armistice that ended hostilities was signed - on July 27, 1953 -,Colombia accumulated 196 dead and missing, and more than 400 injured. Duque intends to seal a memorandum for the repatriation of the bodies of Colombian soldiers who fell at the time.
On the other hand, in the Government of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) the importance of the relationship was reaffirmed by elevating it to a “strategic bilateral association”, a status that precisely celebrates 10 years in 2021 - later supported by the Treaty of Free trade-.
There is a very broad agenda in terms of cooperation in different areas, among others science and technology, which is one of the hallmarks of the relationship that Duque seeks to highlight during his visit.
Seoul is also one of the Asian capitals interested in determining the scope of its relationship with the Pacific Alliance, the economic and commercial integration mechanism founded a decade ago by Colombia, Peru, Chile and Mexico.
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The eventual manufacture of vaccines has attracted the spotlight. Despite not accompanying the president, the chancellor and vice president, Marta Lucía Ramírez, has insisted that one of the foreign policy objectives of this last year of government has to do with the post-pandemic recovery and the generation of greater capacities countries to face this type of crisis, a purpose that underscores the importance of scientific and technological cooperation with Seoul. This same Monday, during a technical stopover in Alaska, Duque himself emphasized that one of his purposes is for South Korea to see Colombia as "a destination for the eventual production and distribution of vaccines," a capacity that the country lost more than a few years ago. 20 years old, in the midst of the economic crisis at the end of the last century.
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